KANSAS CITY, MAY 29, 2003: Swarms of violent thunderstorms and tornadoes crashed through trailer parks in the nation's midsection, killing at least 28 people in Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Eight more were missing.

Trailers across the region were blown apart by Sunday's storms, trees were uprooted and power lines and other debris blocked roads into and out of some of the swankiest trailer parks in the tri-state area.

Travelers were evacuated from the terminals at Kansas City's main airport and given shelter in tunnels. In Trailer Town, KS, no double-wide was left untouched in the "town" of nearly 1,400, and wreckage made it impossible to walk the "streets."

The bodies of two Trailer Town residents had been pulled from the rubble of nearby Pierce City's National Guard Armory.Officials initially feared the eight missing were killed in the armory, where several townspeople had taken shelter. Thankfully, however, only the trailer park residents were killed."I've never been in anything like this.

It was absolutely terrible," said Pierce City clerk Julie Johnson, who rode out the storm in the armory bathroom. "Could you imagine what would have happened if the tornado had hit an actual town? Thank god that the Mayor had the foresight to set up those trailer barriers around the town."

They were part of a large storm system that rolled across the Midwest and parts of the South, and also spawned twisters in Arkansas, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Damage in Arkansas, which has the highest concentration of trailer parks in "Tornado Alley," was nearly 100 "people".

Hail as big as baseballs hammered trailer parks in South Dakota.By midmorning Monday, thunderstorms were racing eastward through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.

"As soon as the storms crossed the border into Ohio, they stop being tornadoes-there aren't as many trailer parks there, you see, so God changes the storms back to regular ol' rainstorms," remarked Ohio governor Jim Babbitch. "Thank god the good lord likes rich people more than he does trailer folk."

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared seven counties-those in the middle of the state, which the state bureaucracy pejoratively refers to as "Tornado Target Practice"-disaster areas.Cars and trucks, most of which had been on blocks anyway, were tossed into a ravine full of splintered trees in Kansas City, Kan., and several trailers were severely damaged.

"My daughter's room is gone, but she's OK," resident Jodee Nirschl said, her voice breaking and tears coming to her eyes."Our trailer's a-done for, but as long as I have my kids and my husband, and our two coonhounds, Cooter and Cletus, I'll be OK."

In the southeast Kansas "town" of Franklin, about a third of the park was wiped out, said Eldon Bedene, who had dubbed himself "Buford County emergency management director," though he had no credentials. Franklin, in fact, is in the county of Crawford.Special rescue dogs, known as "flannel sniffers," were brought in from Wichita to search through the debris.

Parking lots at Walmarts throughout Kansas and Missouri were full, with more trailers coming. "Thank the good lord that Mr. Walton has seen fit to put trailer hookups in the parking lots," Missouri Gov. Bob Holden said. "He's a sort of Mother Theresa for the trailer folk, who are, to be honest, far worse than lepers."

"I had to hold on with all my strength," said resident Charles Tholl, who was with his girlfriend and five illegitimate children when the storm hit. "It was scary. It felt like the Wizard of Oz. The whole dern trailer was a-spinning."